In the sixth inning of a scoreless game Wednesday, Pete Crow-Armstrong took off from third base and changed the night, just not the way the Cubs needed.
According to CBS Sports, Crow-Armstrong had doubled to lead off the sixth against Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez, moved to third on a groundout, and was standing on the bag with two outs when he broke toward home. Rodriguez was pitching from the windup rather than the stretch. As Crow-Armstrong moved, Rodriguez stepped backward off the pitching rubber and then threw the pitch anyway.
The umpires called it a ball. The crew gathered to discuss, and home plate umpire Alfonso Márquez announced over the loudspeaker that they had "determined it is not a balk." The Cubs went on to lose 2-0. A correct balk call in that moment would have given Chicago a 1-0 lead.
After the game, Márquez acknowledged the crew got it wrong.
"We just didn't see it. After looking at the video (postgame), it looked like he stepped off," Márquez said.
Crow-Armstrong was livid on the field and had to be held back by third base coach Quintin Berry. He did not hold back afterward.
"I saw four umpires miss a pretty obvious play," Crow-Armstrong said. "They're out there every day just like we are. Their one job is to get calls right and if they get it wrong, they're supposed to talk about it, figure it out and get it right. And they didn't."
Crow-Armstrong said he understood how Márquez, positioned behind the plate, might not have had the best angle. The other three umpires were a different matter.
"I don't know how you miss somebody starting their motion and then stopping it and stepping off," Crow-Armstrong said. "I just don't know."
Cubs manager Craig Counsell was just as direct.
"They flat out missed it," Counsell said. "It's obvious to everybody on TV, it's obvious to anybody, they missed it. I don't even know what to say. It's hard to argue when they just flat out miss it. The umpires said he did not disengage from the rubber. He disengaged from the rubber in his windup. Tough call for the home plate and second base umpire; easy call for the first and third base umpire."
Under MLB Rule 5.07(a)(1), a pitcher must stand facing the batter with his pivot foot in contact with the rubber before delivering a pitch. Stepping off the rubber during a windup with a runner on base constitutes a balk, which would have awarded Crow-Armstrong home plate and given the Cubs the lead.
The Cubs had no other scoring opportunities of significance, and Rodriguez and the Diamondbacks bullpen held Chicago without a run for the full nine innings.
